Underground Airlines

It is the present day, and the world is as we know it: smartphones, social networking, and Happy Meals. Save for one thing: The Civil War never occurred. A gifted young black man calling himself Victor has struck a bargain with federal law enforcement, working as a bounty hunter for the US Marshal Service. He's got plenty of work. In this version of America, slavery continues in four states called "the Hard Four". On the trail of a runaway known as Jackdaw, Victor arrives in Indianapolis knowing that something isn't right - with the case file, with his work, and with the country itself.

The Last Policeman

What’s the point in solving murders if we’re all going to die soon, anyway? Detective Hank Palace has faced this question ever since asteroid 2011GV1 hovered into view. There’s no chance left. No hope. Just six precious months until impact. The Last Policeman presents a fascinating portrait of a pre-apocalyptic United States. The economy spirals downward while crops rot in the fields. Churches and synagogues are packed. People all over the world are walking off the job - but not Hank Palace. He’s investigating a death by hanging.

Certain Dark Things

In her debut short story collection, M.J. Pack offers up a new breed of terror sure to delight any true horror fan. Don’t miss out on tales of telepathic twins, a campfire ghost story gone terribly wrong, pills that induce life-threatening nightmares, and the disturbing new sideshow at Coney Island: Lady Alligator. Take a haunting trip down infamous Bubblehead Road and follow Danny around the country as he’s pursued by unseen (and unrelenting) creatures.

Haunted House

At Butler House a series of grisly murders over a century have led many to believe it's haunted. To one scientist it's the perfect place for an experiment in fear. Eight people, each chosen because they lived through a terrifying experience, are offered a million dollars to spend one night at Butler House. They can take whatever they want with them - religious items, survival gear, and weapons. All they need to do is last the night.

The Association of Small Bombs

When brothers Tushar and Nakul Khurana, two Delhi schoolboys, pick up their family's television at a repair shop with their friend, Mansoor Ahmed, one day in 1996, disaster strikes without warning. A bomb - one of the many "small" bombs that go off seemingly unheralded across the world - detonates in the Delhi marketplace, instantly claiming the lives of the Khurana boys, to the devastation of their parents. Mansoor survives, bearing the physical and psychological effects of the bomb.

The Last Tribe

Fourteen-year-old Greg Dixon is living a nightmare. Attending boarding school outside of Boston, he is separated from his family when a pandemic strikes. His classmates and teachers are dead, rotting in a dormitory-turned-morgue steps from his room. The nights are getting colder, and his food has run out. The last message from his father is to get away from the city and to meet at his grandparents' town in remote New Hampshire.

The Shut Eye

A woman gets involved with a psychic who may be able to find her missing son. Five footprints are the only sign that four-year-old Daniel Buck was ever here. Every day, Anna Buck guards the little prints in the cement. Polishing them to a shine. Keeping them safe. Spiraling toward insanity. Anna is desperate for hope, which she's not getting from the police or her husband, James. So when a woman tells her she's found a true psychic, a "shut eye", she grasps at it. Maybe he can tell her what happened to her son.

Cold Moon over Babylon: Valancourt 20th Century Classics

Welcome to Babylon, a typical sleepy Alabama small town, where years earlier the Larkin family suffered a terrible tragedy. Now they are about to endure another: 14-year-old Margaret Larkin will be robbed of her innocence and her life by a killer who is beyond the reach of the law. But something strange is happening in Babylon: traffic lights flash an eerie blue, a ghostly hand slithers from the drain of a kitchen sink, graves erupt from the local cemetery in an implacable march of terror.

Bird Box: A Novel

Something terrifying that must not be seen. One glimpse and a person is driven to deadly violence. No one knows what it is or where it came from.Five years after it began, a handful of scattered survivors remain, including Malorie and her two young children. Living in an abandoned house near the river, Malorie has long dreamed of fleeing to a place where her family might be safe. But the journey ahead will be terrifying: 20 miles downriver in a rowboat blindfolded with nothing to rely on but Malorie's wits and the children's trained ears. One wrong choice and they will die. And something is following them....

Real Tigers

The Bond-esque River Cartwight and his group of defunct MI5 spies, headed by the irascible Jackson Lamb, will do anything to get back into the game. When a member of London's Slough House - MI5's stable for disgraced spies, so-called "slow horses" - is kidnapped by a former soldier bent on revenge, the agents must risk treason and breach Regent's Park to steal intel in exchange for their comrade's safety. But the kidnapping is only the tip of the iceberg as they are caught in a conspiracy that threatens the future not only of Slough House but of MI5 itself.

Lovecraft Country: A Novel

Critically acclaimed cult novelist Matt Ruff makes visceral the terrors of life in Jim Crow America and its lingering effects in this brilliant and wondrous work of the imagination that melds historical fiction, pulp noir, and Lovecraftian horror and fantasy.

The Last Girl: The Dominion Trilogy, Book 1

A mysterious worldwide epidemic reduces the birthrate of female infants from 50 percent to less than one percent. Medical science and governments around the world scramble in an effort to solve the problem, but 25 years later there is no cure, and an entire generation grows up with a population of fewer than 1000 women. Zoey and some of the surviving young women are housed in a scientific research compound dedicated to determining the cause.

Through the Fog

Two weeks after his 18th birthday, everything changes for Evan Nash. When he injures his head after being run down on his bicycle, he begins having strange, harrowing visions whenever he tries to sleep. He turns to psychiatrist Shannon Mayer for help. Mayer has troubles of her own: her daughter has been kidnapped, and she's desperate for answers. Though she's at first skeptical of Evan's accounts, it quickly becomes clear that his mysterious ailment may be the key to finding her child.

Killing Trail: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery, Book 1

When a young girl is found dead in the mountains outside Timber Creek, lifelong resident Officer Mattie Cobb and her partner, K-9 police dog Robo, are assigned to the case that has rocked the small Colorado town. With the help of Cole Walker, a local veterinarian and single father, Mattie and Robo must track down the truth before it claims another victim. But the more Mattie investigates, the more she realizes how many secrets her town holds. And the key may be Cole's daughter, who knows more than she's saying.

The Eaton

Spanning over 100 years of mid-Michigan history, The Eaton tells the story of Sam Spicer, a young entrepreneur who purchases the dilapidated Michigan Central Railroad Depot in Eaton Rapids with the dream of opening a hot new martini bar. But when he and his friends discover an abandoned underground hotel directly beneath the property, they must discover what happened to the original guests—before their own time runs out.

Kingdom Come: The Elizabeth Harris Series 1

In Kingdom Come, the first in a new mystery series from Jane Jensen, an ex-NYPD detective seeks escape in Amish country and finds darkness instead. When a beautiful, scantily clad "English" girl is found dead in the barn of a prominent Amish family, Detective Elizabeth Harris knows she's uncovered an evil that could shatter the peace of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

Michael Shaw says:"The best Amish murder mystery story since "Witness"

The Oddfits

Eight-year-old Murgatroyd Floyd doesn't fit in - not as a blue-eyed blonde living in Singapore, not in school, and certainly not with his aloof expatriate parents, who seem determined to make his life even harder. Unbeknownst to him, there's a reason why he's always the odd boy out: he is an Oddfit, a rare type of human with access to the More Known World, a land invisible to most people.

Mort(e): A Novel

Former house cat turned war hero Mort(e) is famous for taking on the most dangerous missions and fighting the dreaded human bioweapon EMSAH. But the true motivation behind Mort(e)'s recklessness is his ongoing search for a pretransformation friend - a dog named Sheba. When he receives a mysterious message from the dwindling human resistance claiming Sheba is alive, he begins a journey that will take him from the remaining human strongholds to the heart of the Colony.

Gateway

When prospector Bob Broadhead went out to Gateway on the Heechee spacecraft, he decided he would know which was the right mission to make him his fortune. Three missions later, now famous and permanently rich, Robinette Broadhead has to face what happened to him and what he is...in a journey into himself as perilous and even more horrifying than the nightmare trip through the interstellar void that he drove himself to take!

My Best Friend's Exorcism: A Novel

The year is 1988. High school sophomores Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since the fourth grade. But after an evening of skinny-dipping goes disastrously wrong, Gretchen begins to act...different. She's moody. She's irritable. And bizarre incidents keep happening whenever she's nearby. Abby's investigation leads her to some startling discoveries - and by the time their story reaches its terrifying conclusion, the fate of Abby and Gretchen will be determined by a single question.

The Winter People: A Novel

West Hall, Vermont, has always been a town of strange disappearances and old legends. The most mysterious is that of Sara Harrison Shea, who, in 1908, was found dead in the field behind her house just months after the tragic death of her daughter, Gertie. Now, in present day, 19-year-old Ruthie lives in Sara's farmhouse with her mother, Alice, and her younger sister, Fawn. Alice has always insisted that they live off the grid, a decision that suddenly proves perilous when Ruthie wakes up one morning to find that Alice has vanished without a trace. Searching for clues, she is startled to find a copy of Sara Harrison Shea's diary....

The Light of the Fireflies

For his whole life, the boy has lived underground, in a basement with his parents, grandmother, sister, and brother. Before he was born, his family was disfigured by a fire. His sister wears a white mask to cover her burns. He spends his hours with his cactus, reading his book on insects, or touching the one ray of sunlight that filters in through a crack in the ceiling. Ever since his sister had a baby, everyone's been acting very strangely.

Publisher's Summary

FOR RENT: Top two floors of beautifully renovated brownstone, 1300 sq. ft., 2BR 2BA, eat-in kitchen, one block to parks and playgrounds. No broker's fee.

Susan and Alex Wendt have found their dream apartment. Sure, the landlady is a little eccentric. And the elderly handyman drops some cryptic remarks about the basement. But the rent is so low, it's too good to pass up. Big mistake.

Susan soon discovers that her new home is crawling with bedbugs... or is it? She awakens every morning with fresh bites, but neither Alex nor their daughter Emma has a single welt. An exterminator searches the property and turns up nothing. The landlady insists her building is clean. Susan fears she's going mad - until a more sinister explanation presents itself: she may literally be confronting the bedbug problem from Hell.

Great story Mr. Winters! At one point, I was so engrossed in it, I stopped listening to go have a shower just because the storyline was making me feel so creepy-crawly. Anyone who chooses to listen to this one while in the midst of moving, consider yourself warned!

If you do not take, Bedbugs, too seriously you might like it. This is not an exposé about the current bedbug epidemic hitting many cities today (thank goodness). But it is urban tale, set in New York City. Susan and Alex Wendt, a young yuppie couple, move from their tiny Manhattan apartment to a “too good to be true” Brooklyn Heights brownstone. I kind of loved, and kind of hated, the constant modern day references: “Susan opened up her Macbook and updated her Facebook status,” kind of stuff. Most of the problems this couple faces are the kind of problems we’d all like to have. I guess it could be a challenge to quit your job and hire a full time nanny so that you can focus on your art. But Susan’s Bedbug issue is not something I’d wish on anybody. Are they real? Where did they come from? Why did they appear? While all of these questions are answered, in the end you are still left wondering…and itching.

The narration of this audiobook is excellent. The voice was a perfect match for the main character, a woman in her 30’s. The narrator does very well in transitioning between this character, the husband, the young daughter and the little old landlady, as well. The voice is pleasant, believable and not at all distracting from the story being told. The quality of the narration also held up when listening on double speed.

This book was really a wonderful listen. It's rare that a male writer creates a female protagonist as true-to-life as Susan, in this charming, refreshingly contemporary horror novel. There is plenty to be creeped-out by in this book, but it never sinks to a level of making you throw up. It's a psychological drama all the way. I was repeatedly impressed with Elisabeth Rodgers's narration. Usually I'm impressed if I /DON'T/ notice a reader, but in her case she brought all the characters wonderfully to life. I will deliberately seek out other books she has read.

If I'd realized that the author, Ben H. Winters, had written Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, I might have steered away from this book as too campy, or trite. But it is neither and I'm glad I didn't recognize the author's name! It's a solidly, gracefully written novel, very entertaining and I look forward to more original books by Mr. Winter!

I dont know. Weak story. There were some (very few) interesting underlying scientific nuggets incorporated towards the end, but not much otherwise. I did not feel any connection whatsoever to the characters. It is a short listen but sadly, I would hardly call it "creepy".

What do you think your next listen will be?

Shadow divers. Even though it's non-fiction it is a lot creepier than this book.

What about Elisabeth Rodgers’s performance did you like?

She did quite well with the voices, the kid's, the landlord. Really good job.

Was Bedbugs worth the listening time?

I'm not sure. I did listen to the whole thing, so thats a good sign because if i'm bored with a book ill drop it without thinking twice. But I kept thinking the story is going somewhere and it didn't. The final ending was unsatisfying, a typical, positive, fairy tale ending, which was a 180 degree change from where the author seemed to take it in the middle/end part. Oh and, I would hardly call this book scary like some others have. Not if you are a grown up.

As noted by a previous reviewer, the narrator can make or break a story. In this case, I thought the narrator did a great job.

The story itself was creepy and kept me on the edge of my seat. I was also pleased with the ending--in my mind I had it going in a different direction so I was surprised (and pleased) when I was wrong.

This book was worth the purchase price, and I will keep my eye out for future titles from this author.

As soon as I saw this book on the home page, I know that I would end up listening to it! I could not stop seconding guessing myself. First of all, the idea of bedbugs only makes my skin itch. Now, take a new apartment add in a nice landlord (which is creepy by its self; but in Brooklyn?), and sprinkle a whole lot of blood-sucking bugs. This book freaked me out and some parts were out right disgusting. But that is what scary movies are made of.

This was a good story and worth a listen. It is not only about bedbugs and the twist using these creatures was interesting. It has a rythm that makes you want to find out what happens next, so be prepared for a good long sit down. You will find it worthwhile

one of the best ever! I just couldn’t stop listening to the horror! GAWD!!! My flesh is still creeping… GASP!

At the beginning I thought the narrator would be boring with the time but no way. She really does the best job. She IS the main character who is slightly boring at the beginning but she gets more and more involved with the read… you will see, this audio piece is just abso fabso! One of the best I’ve ever listened to.

I like this book a lot. The author does an excellent job of painting a comfortable picture of normality, slowly introducing the peculiar and unpleasant until sudden all that is left is abnormality and insanity. It's a classic horror device, and executed here very subtley and effectively. The bugs in particular are a good theme - very few people will not have a reaction of some kind to bugs, from mild disgust to full blown phobia, and, when I started scratching part way into the book, I wasn't really surprised and took it to mean I was enjoying it. The author managed to keep me guessing regarding the eventual outcome, which I appreciate. The reader does a great job as well. I'd definitely recommend it, unless you have a phobia of insects.

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